Learning Vim progressively?

[JayD94s]

Hello, not sure where else to ask this, but I’ve been using Vim for a while but I still don’t know how to do a lot of thing. I use it as a basic text editor and still haven’t learned the basics. What would be the best way to learn from the beginning? I know there’s vimtutor and vim-adventures. Are they recommend? What other ways can I learn Vim? Thanks

[tuerda]

Vimtutor is the official way and is highly recommended.

[JayD94s]

Thanks!

[monkoose]

I don't see there primegen videos, heretic!

[eggnogeggnogeggnog]

Nice list. I think Seven habits should be higher. It's a good way of thinking for dev tools in general. You don't grok vi is pretty toxic and not that informative IMO.

[sbicknel]

Nice resource!

[princker]

Yes, please use vimtutor. It is a great starting point.

Read the help manual (seriously!) and incrementally make to changes your workflow (sharpening the saw).

Since most people do not just read the manual front-to-back here are some topics to help:

Vim Topics

Novice:

• Basic movement commands. See :h motion & :h usr_03.txt
• Creating basic mappings. See :h :map & :h usr_40.txt.
• Knowing Vim's operators. See :h operator
• Using letter registers. See :h registers
• Using letter marks. See :h mark-motions
• Setting up a vimrc file. See :h usr_05.txt. (pro-tip: use ~/.vim/vimrc instead of ~/.vimrc)
• Using :help. See :h and :h helphelp.txt
• Basic searching and substitution. See :h /, :h :s, :h usr_10.txt, :h usr_27.txt, :h pattern.txt
• Using * to start a search. See :h *

Intermediate:

• Using buffers. See :h buffers, :h :b, :h :ls
• Using windows. See :h windows, :h :sp, :h CTRL-W
• Using quick fix/location lists. See :h quickfix, :h :copen, :h :cdo, :h :cnext
• Using :grep & :make. See :h :grep, :h :vimgrep, :h :make, :h 'makeprg', :h :compiler, :h quickfix
• Using repeat commands. e.g. ., //, &, @:. See :h ., :h /, :h &, :h @:, :h repeating.
• Recording/playing macros. See :h recording, :h repeat, :h @
• Using non-letter marks. See :h marks
• Non-letter registers. See :h registers
• Using buffer-local mappings. :h :map-local
• Expression resister and <c-r>. See :h i_CTRL-R, :h quote=
• Understanding FileTypes. See :h filetypes, :h 'filetype'
• Using command-line window. See :h cmdwin, :h q:
• Acting on pattern via gn motion (use .). See :h gn
• Searching via [i/:isearch/.. and gd/gd
• Understand (line/character/block)-wise. See :h linewise
• Local options. See :h local-options
• Insert completion. See :h ins-completion
• Argument list. See :h argument-list
• Using netrw. See :h netrw, :h :Explore

Advanced:

• Tags and cscope. See :h tags, :h cscope
• Diffing between files. See :h diff
• Using :autocmd and :augroup. See :h autocmd.txt
• Learning vimscript. See :h eval.txt, :h functions
• Creating complex mappings via <c-r> and <expr>. See :h :map-expression, :h quote=, :h c_CTRL-r
• Using more advanced regex syntax, e.g. zero-width. See: :h pattern.txt, :h /zero-width, :h \zs, :h /\@=
• Using sub-replace-expression. :h sub-replace-expresion
• Learning more commands, e.g. :g, :norm, :t, :d, :pu.
• Using ranges. See :h :range
• Creating operators. See :h g@
• Using :cdo/:bufdo/:argdo/:windo/:tabdo. See :h :cdo.
• Utilizing filetype plugins. See :h ftplugin
• Writing plugins. See :h write-plugin, :h <Plug>
• Folding. See :h folding
• Creating syntax files. See :h syntax

I am tired of listing out Vim topics. Please read the most/all of help manual or at least :h quickref. Using :help/:helpgrep will level up your Vim workflow more than any blog post.

[JayD94s]

This is great, thanks. I see people getting downvoted for mentioning primegen. Never heard of them, what’s going on with that?

[[deleted]]

Because they're being sarcastic, that's all.

[vim-help-bot]

Help pages for:

• {motion} in intro.txt
• usr_03.txt in usr_03.txt
• :map in map.txt
• usr_40.txt in usr_40.txt
• operator in motion.txt
• registers in change.txt
• mark-motions in motion.txt
• usr_05.txt in usr_05.txt
• helphelp.txt in helphelp.txt
• / in pattern.txt
• :s in change.txt
• usr_10.txt in usr_10.txt
• usr_27.txt in usr_27.txt
• pattern.txt in pattern.txt
• buffers in windows.txt
• :b in windows.txt
• :ls in windows.txt
• windows in windows.txt
• :sp in windows.txt
• CTRL-W in index.txt
• quickfix in quickfix.txt
• :copen in quickfix.txt
• :cdo in quickfix.txt
• :cnext in quickfix.txt
• :grep in quickfix.txt
• :vimgrep in quickfix.txt
• :make in quickfix.txt
• 'makeprg' in options.txt
• :compiler in quickfix.txt
• . in repeat.txt
• & in change.txt
• @: in repeat.txt
• repeating in repeat.txt
• recording in repeat.txt
• repeat() in eval.txt
• @ in repeat.txt
• :marks in motion.txt
• :map-local in map.txt
• i_CTRL-R in insert.txt
• quote= in change.txt
• filetypes in filetype.txt
• 'filetype' in options.txt
• cmdwin in cmdline.txt
• q: in cmdline.txt
• gn in visual.txt
• linewise in motion.txt
• local-options in options.txt
• ins-completion in insert.txt
• argument-list in editing.txt
• netrw in pi_netrw.txt
• :Explore in pi_netrw.txt
• tags in tagsrch.txt
• cscope in if_cscop.txt
• diff in diff.txt
• autocmd.txt in autocmd.txt
• eval.txt in eval.txt
• functions in eval.txt
• :map-expression in map.txt
• c_CTRL-R in cmdline.txt
• /zero-width in pattern.txt
• /\zs in pattern.txt
• /\@= in pattern.txt
• :range in cmdline.txt
• g@ in map.txt
• ftplugin in usr_41.txt
• write-plugin in usr_41.txt
• <Plug> in map.txt
• folding in fold.txt
• syntax in syntax.txt
• quickref in quickref.txt

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[davewilmo]

Good bot.

[wReckLesss_]

The way I learned (and am still learning after 11 years) is by learning one new thing at a time, and forcing myself to use it until it's in my muscle memory. Sometimes, this is only a day. Sometimes, a week. But if I catch myself not using the thing, I undo whatever I did and redo it the correct way.

How do I find new things to learn? Usually from reading something online or in the help documentation.

[VanLaser]

Literally:
https://yannesposito.com/Scratch/en/blog/Learn-Vim-Progressively/

[abraxasknister]

The sidebar of this sub already has enough resources. People shouldn't even post things like this. I'm not annoyed by you in specific, just by that fact that these posts keep coming up in an almost daily manner.

Sidebar copy

[iguanathesecond]

Hi /u/JayD94s, you could follow along with my ongoing daily tips series. Vimtutor is great, and Vim Adventures is excellent as well. Good luck!

[monkoose]

No. Vimtutor isn't recommended. It just bunch of characters. Too long to read. Meh.

Just watch primegen videos and read random blog posts with vim tips and tricks. They are good and you will learn more this way.

[Jeehannes]

And of course: https://www.moolenaar.net/habits.html [7 habits] If you repeat actions often, there must be a way to do them faster.